Dallas Cowboys Blog

Cowboys coach Jason Garrett excited to see Bernardeau practice, says ‘we have to get to [Giants'] level’

OXNARD, Calif. — Since he signed with the Cowboys in March, guard Mackenzy Bernadeau has yet to strap on the pads. That will change Tuesday afternoon. Bernadeau, who underwent surgery on his hip and knee this offseason, will participate in the team’s practice after going through the morning walkthrough.

“It felt good to be out there with my teammates,” said Bernadeau, who passed his conditioning test Monday. “I will be slowly getting back in the mix of things. So, I will be here today and do whatever I can pretty much without any setbacks.”

Bernadeau will be inserted into an offensive line that has been decimated. Interior linemen Bill Nagy, Kevin Kowalski and Nate Livings are currently sidelined. And their injuries prompted the Cowboys to seek reinforcements as they signed both Daniel Loper and Derrick Dockery off the street.

Now, Bernardeau is back and some depth has been restored.

“We’re excited to see him,” Garrett said. “…We’re going to ease him back into it today in practice.”

Yet Garrett wouldn’t rule out the possibility that Bernardeau could play in the Cowboys’ first preseason game against Oakland on Monday.

“Depending on how he does today and Thursday, it might be a little bit aggressive to do that,” Garrett said. “But we’ll see how he responds.”

– On whether the Cowboys will try to acquire another cornerback because of injuries to Jenkins and Claiborne: “We don’t think Morris Claiborne is going to be out for long. …We feel like we have depth at that position.”

– On whether the Cowboys have acquired personnel geared to match up with Giants: “Ultimately we have to get to their level, That’s what we’re working to do…I think there is a general school of thought in our league is that you want to make sure you can compete well against your division rivals. They are certainly our division rival…A lot of personnel moves that teams make and we certainly try to make are designed to help us match up better with those team s we have to play and beat twice a year.”

– On what he criteria he is using to evaluate the No. 3 receiver competition: “We have freedom because of Miles’ versatility, so really what we’re looking for is the best player, a guy who can play inside and make that group of few receivers really difficult to defend or, ‘Hey, Miles, you go play inside. We like this guy outside. We like that combination the best.’ So he gives us some freedom. We’re just looking for guys who have the ability to do one of those two things. It can be a starter as one of our first two receivers or have a role as our third receiver and whatever traits they bring will be positive for us. It goes back to Miles’ versatility. We’ll just put him inside if we need a guy to do some of those inside routes.”

– On Terrell Owens signing with Seattle: “I wish him well. Terrell is a great football player. He’s going to go down as one of the all-time greats to ever play his position. He has a passion for playing. We know that because we were around him, how he practiced and how he played. I wish him nothing but the best. He’ll help their football team.”